The Case of Teshome Mulatu and Bekele Gerba: A Test for the Origin of Conscience and Morality [Belayneh Abate]

February 12, 2018

The heinous rulers of Ethiopia released a letter in January, 20118 that states Teshome Mulatu goes to China for medical care with eleven assistances[1]. During the same period, Bekele Gerba was denied even minimal health care in his country , and he was subjected to further prison terms.[2] These two men hailed from the same region, where the Tigre People Libration Front’s soldiers killed many and ordered one of the victim’s mother to sit on her child’s corpus.[3] Teshome was awarded state-of-the art medical care abroad because he is a loyal servant of the mass killers, but Bekele was denied even the minimal care at home because he speaks for the killed.

This type of scenario is rampant in every region of the country , and it is a test for the origin of conscience and morality. For centuries, thinkers argued whether conscience and morality are innate or acquired traits of the mind . If morality and conscience were acquired, people with similar background should have practiced deeds with similar degrees of conscience and morality. However, deeds have never been uniformly practiced with similar degrees of conscience and morality even by siblings and twins. Some siblings, in fact, sit at the opposite ends of the spectrum of morality. Hence, the question, once more, is: are consciences and morality innate or acquired faculties of the mind? Aren’t the likes of Teshome and Bekele tests for the origin of morality and conscience?